~ 


HE lease by the Illinois Central Sys- 
tem of the Alabama and Vicksburg 
and the Vicksburg, Shreveport & 
Pacific railroads, known jointly as 
“The Vicksburg Route,” becomes effective 


June 2, 1926, the Interstate Commerce 
Commission having approved an agree- 
ment entered into March 31, 1925. Thus 


one of the oldest and most historic railway 
lines in the South becomes part of the Ih- 
nois Central System. 

The Vicksburg Route extends 
Meridian, the metropolis of eastern Mis- 
sissippi, through Jackson, the state capital, 
Vicksburg, the historic river port, Monroe, 
the center of immense gas fields, and 
Shreveport, the largest city in 
Louisiana, to the Texas boundary at Lor- 
raine, La., a total distance of 329.9 miles. 
The addition of The Vicksburg Route in- 
creases the first track mileage of the IIli- 
nois Central System, including its Central 
of Georgia properties, from 8,703 to 9,033 
miles. The first track mileage of the sys- 
tem in Mississippi is increased from 2,033 
to 2,175 miles, which places Mississippi 
ahead of Illinois as the state having the 
largest system mileage. The first track 
mileage of the system in Louisiana is in- 
creased from 312 to 501 miles. 


from 


sece ynd 


. 


Traverses Two States 

The Vicksburg Route traverses six Mis- 
sissippi counties and eight Louisiana 
parishes having a total population in 1920 
of 423,973. Details are shown in the ac- 
companying table. The territory is for the 
most part gently undulating, although 
‘rugged hills are encountered in the region 
immediately west of Meridian and for sev- 
eral miles east of Vicksburg. The route 
traverses a rich agricultural region ideally 
adapted to diversified farming and live- 
stock raising. The principal crop is cot- 
ton, although the growing of corn, rice. 
oats, forage crops, sweet and white 
potatoes, vegetables, sorghum, fruits and 
nuts and poultry raising and dairying are 
becoming increasingly important at many 
points on the road. The census of 1920 
placed the total value of farm crops, ex- 
clusive of animal products, at $47,665,000 
in the fourteen counties and parishes 
traversed by the railroad. 

The forests along the Vicksburg Route 
yield many million feet of pine, cypress and 


June, Nineteen Twenty-Six 


1005 CENT 


Published monthly by the Illinois Central System in the interest of the system, its officers 
and employes and the territory served by is lines 


ao - June, 1926. 


‘ Offices: Room 817, Central Station, Chicago. 
C. EK. Kane, Editor 
(. J. Cortiss, Associate Editor Ie 
L. P. Buatrner, Assistant Editor eg 


other lumber annually, and- the transporta- 
tion of logs, sawed lumber, ties and other 
forest products constitutes one of the prin- 
cipal sources of the railroad’s revenue. No 
fewer than 150 saw, planing and cooper- 
age mills are located along the line of the 
railroad. 

The western section of the route taps the 
famous Caddo oil field, one of the richest 
oil and gas fields in the Southwest, with an 
output in 1924 of 66,000,000 barrels of 
petroleum and 182,000,000,000 cubic feet of 
natural gas. Within a few miles of 
Monroe and extending northward into 
Arkansas is one of the largest gas fields in 
the world, covering an area of more than 
300 square miles and having at present 
more than 250 producing wells. Twenty- 
six oil refineries and oil storage plants are 
located at Shreveport and Monroe. —Ship- 
ments of petroleum and petroleum products 
from Shreveport alone approximate 35,000 
carloads annually. 

The availability of cheap fuel and the 
abundance of mineral, forest and agricul- 
tural products have been important con- 
tributing factors in the location of indus- 
tries along the Vicksburg Route. The 
census of 1920 reported 598 manufactur- 
ing establishments in the six counties and 
eight parishes traversed by the railroad. 


MACH 


Ie. F. Harte, Managing Editor 
J. KIERNAN, Associate Editor 
Mepin, Staff Artist 


icksburg Line Lease Approved 


The value of their products in 
amounted to $79,000,000. 

The Vicksburg Route owns 72 locomo- 
tives, 78 passenger train cars, 1,995 freight 
train cars and 174 pieces of miscellaneous 
work equipment. 

The Alabama and Vicksburg and the 
Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific own 
jointly the Louisiana & Mississippi Rail- 
road Transfer Company, which operates 
two train ferry steamers between Vicks- 
burg and Delta Point. The properties of 
the transfer company are included in the 
lease to the Illinois Central System. 

Mechanical facilities are located at Jack- 
son, Vicksburg, Monroe and Shreveport. 
The principal shops are at Monroe. At 
Meridian heavy repairs are made under 
contract in the shops of the New Orleans 


1919 


& North Eastern Railroad Company. En- 
gine terminals are located at Meridian. 
Vicksburg, Delta Point, Monroe and 


Shreveport, and there is a turnaround ter- 
minal at Jackson. Turntables are located 
at Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg, NRelta 
Point, Monroe, Bossier City and Shreve- 
port. Track scales are located at Meridian, 
Jackson, Vicksburg, Delta Point, Monroe, 
Ruston and Shreveport. Fuel stations are 
located at Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg, 
Delta Point, Monroe and Sibley, and water 


, ; = 

i <geegh? - ; 

Pr i Yee Le | 89° oe hr - 
* = 


An aerial view of Shreveport, La. 


(89958 


Five 


Digitized by the Internet Archive — 
— In 2022 with funding trom | 
University of Illinois Uroana-Champaign Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/vicksburglinelea0Ounse 


———_— 


= 


*1919 U. S. Census. 41920 U. S. Census. 


| . . . 
stations are located at cighteen points on 


the line. 

Beginning at the eastern end of the 
Vicksburg Route at Meridian. Miss., the 
line connects with the Alabama Great 
Southern, the New Orleans & North 
Eastern and the Mobile and Ohio railroads, 
controlled by the Southern Railway, the 
Southern Railway proper, and the Gulf, 
Mobile & Northern Railroad. At Newton, 
30 miles west of Meridian, it crosses the 
Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad, an in- 
dependent line extending between Mobile, 
Ala., and Jackson, Tenn. At Jackson, 
Miss, 96 miles west of Meridian, the line 
is crossed by the main line of the Illinois 
Central and connects with the Yazoo & 
Mississippi Valley and Gulf & Ship Island 
lines of the Illinois Central System and the 
New Orleans Great Northern, an independ- 
ent line in southern Mississippi and 
Louisiana, which has trackage rights into 
Jackson over the Illinois Central. At 
Vicksburg, 44 miles west of Jackson, the 
line crosses the main line of the Yazoo & 
Mississippi Valley Railroad. 

a Traffic Connections 

At Tallulah, La., 21 miles west of Vicks- 
burg, at Delhi, 18 miles farther west, at 
Rayville, 16 miles west of Delhi, and at. 
Monroe, 21 miles west of Rayville, the line 
crosses branches of the Missouri Pacific 
System. At Tremont the line meets the 
northern terminus of the Tremont & Gulf 
Railway. At Ruston, 31 miles west of 
Monroe, the line crosses the Rock Island; 
at Gibbsland, 24 miles farther west, it 
crosses the Louisiana & North West Rail- 
road, and at Sibley, 14 miles west of Gibbs- 
land, it crosses the Louisiana & Arkansas 
Railroad and connects with the Sibley, 
Lake Bisteneau & Southern Railroad at its 
northern terminus. The three roads last 
mentioned are independent north-and-south 
lines. At Bossier City it crosses the 
Shreveport Branch of the St. Louis South- 
western Railway. At Shreveport the 
Vicksburg Route connects with the Louis- 
iana Railway & Navigation Company, the 
Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad, the Texas 
& Pacific Railway, the St. Louis South- 
western Railway, the Kansas City South- 
ern Railway and the Houston, East & West 
Texas Railway, a subsidiary of the South- 
ern Pacific Lines. 

In 1925 the transportation of freight 
amounted to 73 per cent of the total oper- 
ating revenues of the Alabama and Vicks- 


burg and 76 per cent of the total operat- . 


Six 


Counties and Parishes Traversed by Vicksburg Route 


County or Value of Value of Value of 
Parish State Population? Farm Propertyt Farm Cropst Mfd. Products* 

Lauderdale, Te 45,897 $ 8,169,093 $ 2,694,197 $10,736,358 
Newton, Miss..... la nee 20,727 7,655,754 3,015,086 2,538,694 
Scott, IE Stay tie cs 0% 16,420 5,592,431 2,381,782 2,552,500 
Rankin, MEMee veces, 20,272 9,168,273 3,362,722 1,049,398 
Hinds al 57,110 17,903,283 7,050,146 13,789,266 
Warren, EMCO cess. a» 35,;968 8,077,226 2,209,589 6,368,506 
Total Mississippi rrr 193,788 $56,566,060 $20,713,522 $37,034,722 
Madison, J ae 10,829 $10,112,160 $ 1,987,174 $ 8,000,000 
Richland, igi... . 20,860 12,366,020 3,553,281 1,653,367 
Ouachita, Pia 5 ine iss ie 30,319 9,012,826 2,781,847 6,059,629 
Lincoln, Races. is 2 eee 16.962 6,655,374 2,582,963 1,377,847 
Bienville, re ere 8,375,932 3,376,223 1,073,338 
Webster, Lids sc 03 24,707 7,118,144 2,264,070 1.170.625 
Rossier, Las. 22,266 14,532,459 4,584,273 3,136,538 
Caddo, Lit. sho eee 83,265 15,262,789 5,822,392 19,412,989 
Total Louisiana .........230,185 $83,435,704 $26,952,223 $41,883 333 
eID TOTAL. yy abatnwht 423,973 $140,001,764 $47,665,745 $78,918,055 


ing revenues of the Vicksburg, Shreveport 
& Pacific, or 75 per cent of the total oper- 
ating revenues of the combined property. 
The Alabama and Vicksburg handled 1,827.- 
466 tons, and the Vicksburg, Shreveport & 
Pacific handled 2,685,440 tons of revenue 
freight in 1925. Thirty-five per cent of the 
freight traffic in 1925 originated on the 
route and 65 per cent was received from 
connections. The route handled 398 005,000 
ton miles of freight in 1925, of which 158,- 
526,000 moved on the Alabama and Vicks- 
burg and 239,479,000 moved on the Vicks- 
burg, Shreveport & Pacific. This amounted 
to 1,121,000 ton miles per mile of road on 
the Alabama and Vicksburg and 1,271,000 
ton miles per mile of road on the Vicks- 
burg, Shreveport & Pacific. Percentages of 
1925 tonnage by commodities follow: 


Products of agriculture........ 10.34 9.50 
Animals and animal product;.. 2.21 1.65 
Prodtcts of mities Jan. sees wane lh 44.61 
Products of forests/...sisc50.0. 32:00 20.03 
Manufactured and misc. prod... 34.00 26.23 
100.00 100.00 , 


In the 10-year period ended with 1925 
the total tonnage handled by the Alabama 
and Vicksburg increased from 1,195,299 to 
1,827,466, a gain of 53 per cent and the 
total tonnage handled by the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport & Pacific increased from 
75,691 to 2,685,440, a gain of 207 per cent. 
While all the major commodity groups 
show increases in that period, the gains in 
mineral products, consisting largely of 
petroleum and petroleum products, and in 
manufactured and miscellaneous products 
have been much greater than those in other 
classifications. In the ten years ended with 
1925 the ratio of forest products to total 
tonnage transported by the Alabama and 
Vicksburg decreased from 43.60 per cent 
to 32.00 per cent, animal and animal prod- 
ucts decreased from 2.50 to 2.21 per cent. 
agricultural products decreased from 13.92 
to 10.34¢ per cent and manufactured and 
miscellaneous products increased from 
23.11 to 34.02 per cent and products of 
mines increased from 16.87 to 21.43 per 
cent. On the Vicksburg, Shreveport & 
Pacific the ratio of agricultural products 
to total tonnage decreased from 16.44 to 
7.50 per cent, animal products decreased 
from 4.1% to 1.63 per cent, forest prod- 
ucts decreased from 40.45 to 20.03 per cent, 
while mineral products increased from 15.36 
to 44.61 per cent and manufactured and 
miscellaneous products increased from 
23.58 to 26.23 per cent. 


Shreveport 


Shreveport, the second largest city in 
Louisiana, is the industrial and com- 
mercial center of northern Louisiana, 
southeastern Arkansas and northeastern 
Texas. It is one of the most progressive 
and prosperous cities in the Southwest. 
Its growth in recent years has been rapid 
and substantial. From a population of 
16,000 in 1900, the city grew to 28,000 
in 1910 and 43,000 in 1920. On the 
basis of a recent survey the present 
population is estimated at 66,000.  In- 
cluding its immediate suburbs, the 
population is estimated at 72,000. The 
remarkable growth of Shreveport is at- 
tributable to its superior transportation 
facilities, proximity to rich mineral and 
timber resources, cheap fuel, its large 
number of industrial enterprises and the 
growing agricultural development of the 
surrounding territory. The city is served 
by seven railroads with twelve outlets. 
Fifty-two passenger trains enter and 
leave the city daily. It is the largest 
receiving, shipping and distributing point 
between Kansas City, St. Louis and 
Memphis on the north and east, New 
Orleans and Houston on the south and 
Dallas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa on 
the west. 


Shreveport is the center of one of the 
richest oil and gas-producing fields in 
America. The famous Caddo field reaches 
to the outskirts of the city. The total 
production of the eleven oil pools com- 
prising the. Shreveport oil district was 
66,000,000 barrels in 1924. The gas 
production of the Caddo oil field exceeds 
500,000,000 cubic feet a day. Thirteen 
large oil refineries and seven gasoline 
extracting plants are located in Shreve- 
port. The city ranks as one of the 
leading lumber markets in the South. 
The city’s lumber trade exceeds 250,000,- 
000 feet annually, an it is the headquar- 
ters of companies producing more than 
600,000,000 feet of lumber annually. 
The city is one of the principal inland 
cotton markets in the country and has 
what is said to be the largest cotton 
compress in the world. 

Shreveport has 135 manufacturing en- 
terprises, employing more than 8,000 
persons, with an annual payroll ex- 
ceeding $10,000,000. The total value 
of manufactured products in 1924 
amounted to $34,000,000. As a manu- 
facturing center, Shreveport has shown 
remarkable progress in recent years. 
Natural gas, drawn from nearby fields, 
is used almost exclusively as fuel. Its 
supply of gas is abundant, and _ its 
domestic rate is exceedingly low. More 
than 75,000 tons of fertilizer are manu- 
factured at Shreveport annually, with a 
value of more than $3,000,000. The 
manufacture of glass is one of the city’s 
important and growing industries. 

Shreveport has seven banks, with com- 
bined deposits of $50,000,000, or $700 
per capita. In 1925 bank clearings 
amounted to $276,453,984, as against 
$246,209,808, for 1924, an increase of 
$30,244,176. Building permits were is- 
sued during 1923, 1924 and 1925 for 
3,065 projects involving expenditures 
aggregating $23,000,000. The assessed 
valuation of real property increased from 
$85,048,330 in 1924 to $97,970,810 in 
1925. Postal receipts ror 1925 show an 
increase of 9.5 per cent over 1924. 

Shreveport is the center of a rich 
agricultural region. The 1920 census 
reported 9,129 farms in Caddo and Bos- 
sier parishes, of which Shreveport is the 
center. These farms contained ‘ 311,000 
acres of improved land. The value of 
their 1920 crops was $30,000,000. 

Shreveport is a city of culture and re- 
finement, of beautiful homes, splendid 
schools, numerous churches and a_ social 
life not surpassed by any city in the 
South. The city has two large daily 
newspapers, two weekly newspapers and 
four magazines. 


Illinois Central Magazine 


say 
Ps ig f 


| The Vicksburg Route has a long and 
checkered history. Its story is one of 
heroic pioneering, persistent struggle, great 
aspirations, disasters and triumphs. During 
the great conflict between the North and 
‘the South the line between Meridian and 
Monroe was the objective of the contend- 
ing armies and the scene of many stirring 
battles. At the close of that struggle it 
was left litthke more than a streak of 
wreckage. 
The Road Is Historic 

The history of the road goes back almost 
to the beginning of the railway era. The 
first steam locomotive in the United States 
was Stephenson's “America,” brought from 
England by Horatio Allen in 1829. It was 
only two years later, on December 19, 1831, 
that the Clinton & Vicksburg Railroad 
Company, the first of all the Vicksburg 
Route companies, was incorporated by the 
State of Mississippi to build~a railroad 
thirty miles in length between Vicksburg 
and Clinton to replace the slow-moving 
oxen then used to transport cotton to the 
river. 

A graphic description of conditions in 
that early day is thus stated in a con- 
temporary journal : . 

Some idea of the expense of this (ox-drawn) 
movement may’ be formed by those who have 
seen cotton coming over dreadful roads, up to 
the hub, dragged slowly along, twenty, thirty 
or forty miles, as we have seen it coming into 
| Vicksburg, hauled by five yoke of oxen carry- 
ing 2,800 to 3,000 pounds, and so slowly that 
motion was scarcely perceptible. So many oxen 
perish in the yoke in winter and spring that it 
has been said, with some exaggeration, that one 
might walk on dead oxen all the way from 
Jackson to Vicksburg. 

The first spade of earth in the construc- 
tion of the road was cast at Vicksburg in 
1833. On December 25 of that year the 
Clinton & Vicksburg Railroad Company 
‘was succeeded by the Commercial and 
Railroad Bank of Vicksburg, which was 


Railroad Map 


Showing 


and LOUISIANA 


Vicksburg Route [i 
Ill. Cent. System —_— 
Other railroads 


June, Nineteen Twenty-Six 


chartered to build a railroad from Vicks- 
burg to Jackson and conduct a_ banking 
husiness. 

By the beginning of 1837 several miles 
of railroad had been built, and the follow- 
ing year a steam locomotive, the “Commer- 
cial,” built by Matthias Baldwin, America’s 
pioneer locomotive builder, arrived at 
Vicksburg. The first regular trip of the 
“Commercial” was to a point five miles 
east of Vicksburg on May 15, 1838, and on 
November 1, 1838, a regular schedule of 
two trains daily was established between 
Vicksburg and the Big Black River. 
Meanwhile construction of the road east- 
ward from the Big Black River was pro- 
gressing slowly. Slave labor was employed 
almost entirely in building the road. The 
heavy cuts, high trestles and the long 
bridge across the Big Black River rendered 
construction difficult. The Big Black 
bridge was finished early in 1839, and by 
the first of July, that year, the road was 
completed to the Edwards Plantation, 
eighteen miles east of Vicksburg, and the 
first train from Vicksburg to Edwards was 
operated July 20, 1839. 


Rates in the Early Days 


The road was built of wooden rails, set 
five feet apart, capped with strips of iron 
fastened ‘to the rails by means of iron 
spikes, which worked their way out of the 
rails to such an extent that it was necessary 
for trackmen to make daily trips over the 
line to drive them in. These protruding 
spikes were known as “snake heads.” 

While the line beiween Edwards and 
Jackson was under construction, a branch 
line was being extended from Bolton to 
Raymond. An advertisement in the Ray- 
mond Times, November 15, 1839, reported 
that “cars are now running daily within 
a mile and a half of Raymond” and quoted 


Hare" 
3 
a\f 
AG 
ba 


freight rates on cotton from Raymond to 
Vicksburg at $2 per bale, whiskey, pork, 
molasses, etc., at $2 per barrel, and other 
articles at 75 cents per 100 pounds. 

Judge R. H. Thompson of Jackson, a 
distinguished member of the Mississippi 
bar, who was for twenty years attorney 
for the Illinois Central Railroad at Brook- 
haven and who has been the general attor- 
ney for the Alabama and Vicksburg at 
Jackson for twenty-nine years, says the 
Raymond branch was the first railroad he 
ever saw. He was then a small boy, and 
it made a profound impression upon him. 
As he stood watching the arrival of the 
train, one of the astonished spectators ex- 
claimed: “Lord! Lord! What pulls the 
monstrous wagons!” 


Slaves Built Line 


From the beginning the construction and 
operation of the road were carried on with 
great difficulties. Progress was exceedingly 
slow, and on February 13, 1840, an assign- 
ment was made to the trustees for the bene- 
fit of the creditors. The trustees bent 
every effort toward completing the road. 
Additional slaves were procured from the 
planters along the route, and before the 
close of 1840—seven years after the ground 
was broken at Vicksburg—the road had 
reached Jackson. This was Jackson's first 
railroad, and its coming was “an event 
celebrated everywhere in Hinds County.” 

The road was operated by the trustees 
until March 8, 1848, when it was sold at 
sheriff’s sale. A quaint advertisement ap- 
pearing in a Jackson newspaper in April, 
1842, quoted the round-trip fare over the 
45-mile line between Jackson and Vicks- 
burg at $8, which amounts to more than 
8 cents a mile of travel. The name of 
the railroad was changed March 9, 1850, to 
the Vicksburg & Jackson Railroad Com- 


pany. Morris Emanuel, an enterprising 
Vicksburg therchant and land owner, was 
president of the company. 

In the meantime the railroad between 
Jackson and Brandon, fourteen miles in 
length, had been built by the Jackson & 
Brandon Railroad and Bridge Company, 
largely with funds borrowed from the 
state. This company was incorporated 
February 5, 1836, and reincorporated Feb- 
ruary 5, 1841. The Jackson-Brandon line 
was begun in 1841, grading was completed 
in 1843 and the road was completed and 
opened for operation in 1849. The company 
owned between 200 and 300 slaves, and the 
road was built almost éntirely by slave 
labor. 


Transcontinental Dream 


On February 23, 1846, the Southern Rail- 
road Company was chartered in Mississippi 
‘to construct a railroad from Brandon east- 
ward through Meridian to the Mississippi- 
Alabama state line, there to connect with 
a railroad of the same name in Alabama, 
but the charter was allowed to lapse with- 
out any actual construction being done. 
The Southern Railroad Company (which 
should not be confused with the present 
Southern Railway System), was reincor- 
porated March 9, 1850, as a Mississippi 
corporation. The controlling spirits of the 
enterprise were Thomas Righy, Morris 
Emanuel and William C. Smedes of 
Vicksburg. Mr. Rigby, the principal stock- 
holder, was a prominent merchant and 
landowner. He served as vice-president of 
the railroad for a number of years and as 
president of the road for a time until it 
was sold to London interests in 1881, when 
he retired at the age of 80 years. William 
C. Smedes, the first president of the com- 
pany, was a distinguished member of the 
Vicksburg bar and is sometimes referred 
to as the “father of the Southern Rail- 
road.” Other directors of the Southern 
Railroad Company were Colonel Nicholas 
D. Coleman, Ezekiel Pickens, James M. 
Calhoun, Bartholomew Smith, Alexander 
H. Arthur and William H. Siddell. 


In July, 1852, the Southern Railroad 
Company acquired the Jackson & Brandon 
Railroad and Bridge Company’s line be- 
tween Jackson and Brandon, including 
“land, depots, slaves, engines and cars,” and 
proceeded to extend the line eastward to- 
ward Meridian. 


It was about this time, according to the 


Mi a ae 8 BS 


le 
Soe aerti. wt 


ee 


ry) 


The new courthouse (left) and a scene in the business district, 


| Eight 


eee Ph “tgs * 
Bessy ee ¢ ee 
- t 
4 
= oer en _~ — = 


Cities and Towns Served by Vicksburg 


. Route ; | 
(Populations from 1920 Census) 
Mississippi 
MIGvUUtAE (ies... sso eee 23.399 
Meehan Junction .............+.- 125 
AGG Wea. ss... .. s+ eee 272 
ERSCROLY yas... ... 3. cee 618 
RVGWION 5.........5 05 0S 1,604 
EMWTONCE ........ .scuse ee 215 
RR dasa 10 « 0. a oe 455 
Forrest sens erelad Sean 
DAOTtOn ......-\<ueeeee 437 | 
lerceuire ....). cee 105 
Pelngtchie ......aneee “be eee 1,212 
MOMMS Oc... .... .. 5 ote ete > <8 30° 4 
Sen (ae lS 745 | 
MOreenneld ... . <>. eee 15 
PRGCBOUS A ih <<. ss ee eee so 80 
Jackson Wee. er ela 
RC OL 669 | 
PIGLEOEL ety hx « << «x's 2 ee 494 | 
POE WEL Oe os vss sae ee ees 727 
Ly i ee 3 2 aes ee 82 
Newmate)...».+. cee eee as. 53 
ARIST ony ss + 3's ea 18,072 
| 
Louisiana 
Sy re 225 | 
MOUNGE 5 2.<s .. + «tempo ats suns eee 219 
1 hl RS Se RR Te ee 1,316 
SUCH EG 9g scot ss, ages see tears 41 | 
PL PEIAL sig ica: akg <n ke GR an Ca tee 26 
Waverly a5 Wis scare Caer ee 113 
ethys regtrc «at 23. «3 ups ear 980 
PNG ices oss uss Sate ee en 59 
ELOUYS RAD SE © ns sts oo one ee ee 218 
RAVVILIE Bes cates oi0.cc ule eRe et 1,499 
ASNT OTS oe eis x. ae ee Dear 107 
Cited iG ke es oe. ss sve oars See 45 | 
IM ONTOU Ai ee cas oss cic es are eee 12675) «| 
Wests MONnthe ia. «sent cel eee ae 
Ghetiere sortie ns ane wae tee 226 
CAIDOU serene oss 5 «sce oto eniee 278 
EE SOMIORE See tress F x's. cig ote re 515 
PHOUMETAM bene ie ores on cis Calon ond 393 
Ruston ee oo ee or tees 3,389 
RSPAR LL eee a ite itctie<a ees avn, ordre 55 
itr SDOLO SMR amie ies 6 oo) ae eieeee 290 
IATCAdia: Perse ie ae ie ces 1,240 
Gibbsland) esate ates Comers 798 
Nelson iperiincron tte oot: «eels 98 
Diubberlye se eas ee eee 250 
SIDley 6 are oe » eaisehe cro. eeee 900 
Dayliné ss ee. ec er rae 315 
Hourhton ea... eae wee eee 340 
Bodeath ots... 2 eee oo a eras 36 
Bousiers Caty der aves cee. ie 1,094 
BHreveport oir. aceeee entry aceon es 43,874 
add. Owns. oice.s ee ce 11 
TOWRA Wn os: ei ae eis ace ee 37 
PE OUP OM ee Soak cepts te Ge eee 22 
ESTRENWODG ! orale Gite mics oie aeleies 26 


records, that the promoters of the South- 
ern and the Vicksburg & Jackson railroads 
began to cherish the ambitious dream of a 
transcontinental rail route reaching from 
Charleston, S. C., to San Diego, Cal. This 
was many years before the first transcon- 


tinental railroad was built. The road from 
Meridian to Vicksburg was to form a link 
in the great chain that was to span the 
continent. The promoters of the enterprise 
declared that “nature has designed that the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans shall be united 
by arms of iron, stretching across this 
great and magnificent continent in a de- 
gree of latitude where there is no ice or 
snow to interrupt the gigantic embrace. It 
will be made plain as the sun at noonday 
that no other place on the banks of the 
Mississippi presents anything like the ad- 
vantages which are presented by Vicks- 
burg.” The road was to run from Vicks- 
burg to “El Paso, the gap in the Rocky 
Mountains, the only point where a railroad 
can surmount those elevated barriers . 
and, almost miraculous to be told, the 
course of the Gila River, beyond the Rocky 
Mountains, and the bay of San Diego, one 
of the best harbors on the Pacific coast, 
or perhaps in the world, are in the same 
degree of latitude.” 


Early Promoters 


On March 11, 1852, the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport & Texas Railroad Company 
was incorporated to build a railroad west- 
ward from Vicksburg, and on July 5 a 
convention, known as the “Vicksburg. 
Shreveport & Texas Railroad Convention,” 
was held in Monroe, La., to stimulate in- 
terest in the project. Colonel Nicholas D. 
Coleman of Vicksburg, a director of the 
Southern Railroad Company, was chairman 
of the convention, which was composed of 
delegations of prominent citizens represent- 
ing the several parishes in northern Louis- 
iana, headed by the following: Carroll 
parish, Fred M. Goodrich; Morehouse 
parish, S. G. Parsons; Union parish, H. B. 
Essick; Claiborne parish, A. B. George: 
Madison parish, D. M. Pugh; Ouachita 
parish, Col. H. W. Sparks; Jackson parish, 


E. W. Harris; Bienville parish, Henry 
Gray; Caddo parish, B. M. Johnson. Col. 
H. L. Douglass of Caddo parish was 


elected permanent chairman of the con- 
vention. The route across Louisiana, from 
Delta Point to the Louisiana-Texas state 
line at Lorraine, had previously been sur- 
veyed by William H. Siddell, another di- 
rector of the Southern Railroad, under the 
direction of Col. J. J. Albert, chief of 
topographical engineers. The convention 
adopted the following resolution which re- 
veals the objects of the proposed railroad: 

Whereas, the population of the northern 


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Monroe, La. 


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Illinois Central Magazine 


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parishes of Louisiana and the southwestern 
counties of Arkansas and eastern Texas is al- 
ready considerable and is rapidly increasing by 
immigration, attracted hither by the great agri- 


cultural advantages of this region; and, 
whereas, the new state of California, now at- 
tracting many adventurers in search of gold, 


will gradually form a fixed society and popula- 
tion and must in a few years draw after them 
the accomplishments of social life; whereas, the 
commerce of our country and Europe with the 
group of islands of the Pacific Ocean, together 
with China and Japan, will cause to spring up 
with a rapidity hitherto unexampled, large and 
prosperous communities on our Western coast. 

Therefore, be it resolved, that some means of 
from the Mississippi River 
through the northern parishes and Texas to the 
Pacific Ocean, which can be passed with reas- 
onable safety and speed, is necessary to meet 
the wants and wishes of our citizens at either 
end, and it is equally necessary to aid the Gov- 
ernment in controlling the Indian tribes along 
the Mexican boundary and protect our frontier 
settlements from their depredations. 


The Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas 
Railroad was to help meet the needs of the 
country as above outlined. Except for the 


war a few years later which broke the 


financial bonds of the North and South and 
laid the South prostrate for many years 
afterwards, this great dream of a transcon- 
tinental rail route through Vicksburg and 
what is now Meridian might have been 
realized, and the road might have been 
the first to reach the Pacific Ocean. 

The company was financed to carry on 
its work largely by the business interests 
along the route. Construction was begun 
in 1852, and by 1860 the line from Delta 
Point; opposite Vicksburg, to Monroe, La., 
was completed and in operation. 

In the meantime. the line between Bran- 
don and Meridian was in process of con- 
struction. The road between Brandon and 
Morton, twenty-one miles in length, was 
completed in 1858. The sixty miles from 
Morton to Meridian were completed and 
opened for operation in June, 1861, two 
months after the outbreak’of the War be- 
tween the States. 


June, Nineteen Twenty-Siz 


Typical business buildings and street scenes in Meridian, 


On June 3, 1861, the first train to run 
over the completed line, 140 miles in length, 
between Vicksburg and Meridian, entered 
the latter town. At that time Meridian 
had about 100 inhabitants. It had pre- 
viously been known as “Ball’s Log Store,” 
but, at the suggestion of John T. Ball, 
founder of the town, its name was changed 
to Meridian by William C. Smedes, presi- 
dent of the Southern Railroad Company, at 
the time the railroad was completed into 
the town. 

Many Vicissitudes 


During the next few years the railroad 
experienced all the vicissitudes of war. The 
territory through which it passed was 
drenched with the blood of contending 
armies, and the railroad and its rolling 
stock were torn up, burned and laid waste 
by defenders and invaders alike. The 
route between Jackson and Vicksburg was 
almost a solid battleground. The broken 
uplands in Hinds and Warren counties 
were scenes of numerous skirmishes and 
several important battles. Desperate battles 
were fought near Raymond, at Champion 
Hill, Baker’s Creek and Big Black River. 
Jackson was sacked and burned and Vicks- 
burg was the scene of one of the greatest 
military sieges ever witnessed on this con- 
tinent. The following graphic account of 
the damage done to the railroad during the 
war is contained in a report which Morris 
Emanuel, president of the Southern Rail- 
road, made in the fall of 1865: 


At the close of the war we were left to con- 
template its blighting effect on our road and 
property, as evidenced by our tracks torn up, 
cross ties burned, rails bent, twisted and broken, 
bridges and culverts destroyed, depots burned, 
cars destroyed and locomotives and all other 
machinery in a damaged condition—without a 
dollar in the treasury, with nearly $1,500,000 
of unpaid debts that had matured during the 
war, besides upwards of $600,000 of unpaid in- 
terest coupons, making a total of more than 
$2,000,000 of indebtedness past due. 

The disasters to the road and rolling stock of 


‘stroyed. 


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the company by the rough heels of war have 
been very damaging and numerous. On the 
24th of April, 1863, General Grierson’s raid 
destroyed Newton station, burning the depot 
building containing the books and papers of that 
office, with some freight; also destroying the 
cars of two trains and injuring the engines. The 
troops tore up half a mile of track and de- 
stroyed the trestles. In May, 1863, the United 
States troops under General U. S. Grant, while 
at Jackson, burned Pearl River Bridge and 
several hundred feet of high and expensive 
trestle work, partially destroying several miles 
of track east of Pearl River, and about seven 
miles of track between Jackson anod Big Black 
River, including the valuable bridge over that 
river, together with upwards of 3,000 feet of 
high trestle work connected with it; also 
Baker's Creek Bridge and a number of smaller 
ones. : 


On the march of General Grant’s army to 
Vicksburg five engines and fifty cars were cap- 
tured and twenty-two freight cars were de- 
stroyed at Jackson. The damage done to the 
road between Jackson and Big Black, includ- 
ing Pearl River and Big Black River bridges, 
was estimated at the time at $204,000. In the 
following July, after the surrender of Vicks- 
burg, the United States Army again marched 
to Jackson in pursuit of General Joseph E. 
Johnston and pursued him to Brandon and 
Morton, tearing up track and destroying bridges 
and trestles in their march to such an extent 
that trains did not run farther than Brandon 
before the 6th of January, 1864, and for a 
portion of the time trains ran no farther west 
than Morton. 

In February, 1864, General Sherman made his 
great march through the state on a parallel line 
with the railroad and near enough to it for the 
cavalry to make sudden dashes on any station 
he thought proper to destroy. His troops 
burned the station houses at Brandon, Morton, 
Lake, Newton and Meridian. Machine shops 
and other company buildings at Lake were de- 
While the army of General Sherman 
remained at Meridian seven miles of our track 
were as effectually destroyed as labor and skill 
combined with energy could do it; also 7,000 
feet of bridges and trestles, including two 
expensive bridges across Chunkey River, to- 
gether with the eighty-three other trestles along 
the line. 

Superadded to these heavy losses, the val- 
uable brick depot and the warehouse at Jack- 
son were destroyed by fire in November, 1862, 
and a commodious depot building at Morton 
was burned in February, 1863. These two depot 


Nine 


pare 
pattie 


Meridian 

Meridian, the eastern terminus of The 
Vicksburg Route, is the metropolis of 
eastern Mississippi. The census of 1920 
gave its population as 23,399. Unofficial 
estimates now place the population of 
Meridian at 31,000. The city ranks high 
as a manufacturing center, having a 
total of fifty-four industrial establish- 
ments, with an output valued at $9,590,- 
000 in 1920. Lauderdale County, of 
which Meridian is the county seat, had 
eighty-five manufacturing establishments 
with an output valued at $10,736,000 in 
1920. The articles manufactured in 
Meridian include: lumber, sashes and 
doors, veneers, barrels, staves, spokes and 
handles, cotton, cdttonseed products, 
fertilizer, saw mill machinery, building 
materials, wagons and automobile trail- 
ers, automobile batteries, display fixtures, 
brick, paints, saws, foundry specialties, 
condiments, soap, canning machinery, 
bleached linters and hosiery. The manu- 
facture of lumber and wood products 
constitutes the most important group of 
manufactures. 

Meridian is served by six railway 
lines operating forty-six passenger trains 
in and out of the city daily. Approxi- 
mately 296,000 carloads of freight orig- 
inate *here annually, 100,000 of which 
are classed as lumber and lumber prod- 
ucts. The railway shops of Meridian 
employ 2,400 persons, and the annual 
railway payroll in the city 1s $2,520,000. 

Meridian is the wholesale distributing 
center for 300,000 people located within 
a radius of fifty miles. Its seventeen 
wholesale houses do an annual business 


of $20,000,000, not including trade in 
lumber and lumber products, which runs 
into many millions of dollars annually. 

The city is served by five banks hav- 


ing. deposits of $10,467,000 in 1923. 
There are thirty churches, representing 
ten denominations, in the city. Their 
combined membership is approximately 
10,000. The city has many fine schools, 
stores and public buildings and hun- 
dreds of beautiful humes. There are 
thirty acres of parks and playgrounds 
within the city limits. In addition to an 
active chamber of commerce with 500 
members, Meridian has four business 
men’s luncheon clubs and a large num- 
ber of fraternal and social organizations. 

Meridian is situated in one of the 
most beautiful sections of the state, in 
the southeastern foothills of the Alle- 
ghany Range. The elevation at the 
court house is 344 feet. A hill to the 
south of the city reaches an altitude of 
544 feet and commands an impressive 
view of the surrounding country. 


The city is surrounded by a productive 
agricultural region, characterized by a 
wide variety of soils which possess great 
possibilities for diversified farming. It 
is said that more than 150 products 
have been grown successfully in Lauder- 
dale county, including cotton, corn, 
sweet potatoes, sugar cane, peanuts, 
pecans, tomatoes, peas, watermelons, 
strawberries and various other fruits and 
vegetables. There are more than 3,000 
farms in Lauderdale county, stocked 
with 4,000 head of dairy cattle, 10,000 
head of beef cattle, 26,000 hogs and 
120,000 head of poultry. The value of 
the farm crops of Lauderdale county in 
1920 was $2,700,000. 


buildings, on account of their supposed security, 
were made. the repositories of all the valuable 
records and papers belonging to the company. 
It was deemed prudent to transfer the archives 
of the company from Vicksburg during the 
bombardment, and they were sent to those two 
depots and were consequently all destroyed. 
All the furniture, with the valuable library, 
fine paintings and costly plate of the late Wil- 
liam C. Smedes, then president of the company, 
were entirely destroyed by the burning of the 
Morton depot. 

On January 28, 1867, the name of the 


Ten 


road between Meridian and Vicksburg was 
changed by legislative authority from 
Southern Railroad to Vicksburg and 
Meridian Railroad. 

By military orders the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport & Texas Railroad between 
Delta Point and Monroe was destroyed by 
the Confederate army in November, 1863, 
and was not rebuilt and put in operation 
until 1870. 


The property and franchises of the 


~ Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas Railroad 


Company were acquired by John T. Lude- 
ling and associates of Monroe, La., who 


formed the Northern Louisiana & Texas 


Railroad Company, incorporated in Louisi- 
ana September 28, 1868. Mr. Ludeling was 
president, George C. Waddell of Vicks- 
burg was vice-president, and W. R. Gordon 
of Monroe was superintendent and chief 
engineer of the new company. The road 
between Delta Point and Monroe was re- 
constructed by this company in 1869 and 
1870, and the line between Shreveport and 
Lorraine, which had been completed by the 
original company in 1866, was leased to 


_another company from 1870 to 1875. The 


track gauge was 5 feet 6 inches. 

In the meantime the North Louisiana & 
Texas Railroad was being harassed by liti- 
gations arising from the manner in which 
it acquired the property of the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport & Texas Railroad. The sale 
to the Ludeling interests was attacked in 
court, and in October, 1874, the United 
States Supreme Court decreed that the 
proceedings under which Ludeling and his 
associates acquired the property were 
fraudulent. The title to the property was 
accordingly set aside, and the North 
Louisiana & Texas Railroad Company 
went out of existence. The property was 
in receivership from March 22, 1875, to De- 
cember 2, 1879, when it was sold at fore- 
closure to the Vicksburg, Shreveport & 
Pacific Railroad Company. 


New Company Formed 

The Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific 
Railroad Company, the predecessor of 
the present Vicksburg, Shreteport & 
Pacific Railway Company, was incorpo- 
rated in Louisiana December 2, 1879, with 
the following directors: Edmund Richard- 
son, Jackson, Miss., president of the com- 
pany; A. B. Pittman and T. M. Smedes, 
Vicksburg; Henry R. Jackson and William 
M. Wadley, Savannah, Ga.; L. P. Grant; 
Henry B. Plant, Augusta, Ga., and Edward 
Hoopes, Philadelphia. J. W. Green of 
Monroe was general manager. The pres- 
ence of H. B. Plant, president of the Plant 
System of Georgia and Florida, and Wil- 
liam M. Wadley, president of the Central 
of Georgia Railroad, on the directorate, as 
well as the name of the company, itself, 
indicate that the dream of making this a 
transcontinental railroad still played an im- 
portant part in the plans and policies of 
the promoters. 

The new company leased the line between 
Shreveport and Lorraine to the Texas & 
Pacific Railway and, in conjunction with 
the Vicksburg & Meridian Railroad, con- 
tracted with the Delta Wharf & Land 
Company and the Vicksburg Wharf & 
Land Company for the operation of a train 
ferryboat between Vicksburg and Delta 
Point. 

In the early part of 1881 the Vicksburg, 
Shreveport & Pacific Railroad Company 


Monroe 


| 

Monroe, the second largest city in | 
northern Louisiana and the county seat | 
of Ouachita parish, has experienced a | 
remarkable growth in recent years. | 
From 5,428 inhabitants in 1900 the city’s 
population increased to 12,675 in 1920, 
and, according to latest estimates, it | 
now exceeds 18,000. The population of 
West Monroe, across the Ouachita River, 
increased from 775 in 1900 to 2,240 in 
1920, and is now estimated at 3,000. 
This growth has been due largely to the 
location of jndustries as a result of the 
discovery and development of the im- 
mense gas fields situated within a few 
miles of the city. This gas field, said to 
be the largest in the world, covers an 
area of at least 300 square miles and 
produces many millions of feet of gas 
daily. Gas is piped into the city and 
serves as a cheap fuel for domestic and 
industrial purposes. 

The census of 1920 reported fifty-five 
industrial establishments in Ouachita 
parish, with products valued at more than 
$6,000,000 in 1919. The value of manu- 
factured products in Monroe was $4,159,- 
000, compared with $936,000 in 1909. 
Among the important industries at 
Monroe are lumber, sash and door mills, 
pulp and paper mills, gasoline extracting 
plants, oil refineries and carbon black 
plants. The surrounding forests produce 
large quantities of pine, cypress, oak 
and other valuable woods, and lumber 
and wood products are shipped from 
Monroe to all parts of the country. 


Monroe is the center of a productive 
agricultural region. In 1920 Ouachita 
parish alone had 2,666 farms, containing 
159,490 acres, of which 79,381 acres 
were in crops, as_ follows: cotton, 
31,227; corn, 23,299; hay and forage, 
3,863; sweet and white potatoes, 1,311; 
miscellaneous crops, 8,981. The value 
of farm crops in the parish was $2,781,- 
847; dairy products, $151,000; poultry 
products, $112,400. There were 37,400 
head of livestock on farms. The census 
reported 21,000 peach trees and 2,200 
pecan trees in the parish in 1920. 

Six railway lines radiate from the 

city. 
"Monroe is blessed with a mild climate. 
Roses bloom out-of-doors in December, 
and snow and ice are seldom seen. The 
winter season is short and not uncom- 
fortable, and the temperatures in the 
summer seldom get above the point of 
comfort. The mean temperature is 50 de- 
grees in the winter and 78 degrees in 
the summer. 


The city has one daily newspaper, two 
large banks, churches of eight denomina- 
tions, excellent schools, hundreds of fine 
homes, many modern commercial build- 
ings and numerous recreational advan- 
tages, including country clubs, good 
roads, parks and playgrounds. One of 
the noteworthy features of Monroe is a 
large salt water bathing pool, which is 
fed ‘by a salt water well more than 
2,000 feet deep. “People come from 
miles’ around to enjoy bathing in this 
pool. Game, including deer, quails, ducks 
and opossums, abounds in the forests 
around Monroe, and the nearby rivers 
and lakes provide the disciples of Izaak 
Walton with trout, bar fish, white perch, 
speckled perch and other fish. The 
Ouachita River is one of the clearest 
rivers in the South, being fed by giant 
crystal springs in Arkansas. It affords 
splendid opportunities for rowing, yacht- 
ing and sailing as well as fishing and 
bathing. 


‘ 


passed under the control of the Alabama, 
New Orleans, Texas & Pacific Junction 
Railways Company, Ltd., of London, Eng- 
land, owners of the “Queen & Crescent 
Route,” parts of which now belong to the 


Illinois Central Magazine 


Southern Railway System. Charles Schiff, 
C. C, Harvey and R. Carroll, president, 
vice-president and general manager, re- 
spectively, of the “Queen & Crescent” at 
Cincinnati, were elected to those offices on 


the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Rail 


road. In the same year construction was 
begun on the line between Monroe and 
Shreveport. This line was completed and 
opened in August, 1884, thus completing 
the route between Delta Point and the 
Louisiana-Texas line. In the meantime the 
gauge of the completed stretches of the 
road was changed from 5 feet 6 inches to 
4 feet 8%4 inches. About the same time 
the gauge of the Alabama & Vicksburg was 
changed from 5 feet to 4 feet 8% inches. 
On February 4, 1889, the property of the 
Vicksburg & Meridian Railroad Company 
‘was sold under foreclosure to the owners 
of the “Queen & Crescent Route,” and on 
March 18, 1889, a new company was 
formed under the name of the Alabama 
and Vicksburg Railway Company. Thus 
the two roads, the Alabama and Vicks- 
burg and the Vicksburg, Shreveport & 
Pacific passed under common control, and 
since that time they have remained under 


virtually the same management, although 
they have always maintained a separate 
corporate existence. The “Queen & Cres- 
cent” officers became the general officers 
of the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway, with 
Charles Schiff and C. C. Harvey as presi- 
dent and vice-president, respectively. 

On May 20, 1895, the Louisiana & Mis- 
sissippi Railroad Transfer Company, incor- 
porated June 18, 1895, and owned jointly 
by the two railroads, purchased the train 
ferryboat and other property of the Delta 
Wharf & Land Company and the Vicks- 
burg Wharf & Land Company and took 
over the operation of the ferry service be- 
tween Vicksburg and Delta Point. 

The lease of the Shreveport-Lorraine 
extension was surrendered by the Texas & 
Pacific Railway January -1, 1899. 

In 1907 D. D. Curran, vice-president and 
general manager of the railroads, succeeded 
C. C. Harvey as president of the two com- 
panies. In February, 1915, he became 
chairman of the board of directors, and 
Larz A. Jones, formerly vice-president and 
comptroller, was elected president of the 
companies. Mr. Jones has been identified 
with the properties since 1884. 


In: 1917 the name of the Alabama, New 
Orleans, Texas & Pacific Railways Com- 
pany, Limited, of London, England, was 
changed to The Sterling Trust, Limited, 
with Baron Emile Beaumont d’Erlanger as 
chairman. In November, 1924, The 
Sterling Trust, Limited, disposed of its 
stock and thereby its controlling interest 
in the Alabama and Vicksburg and the 
Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific railroads 
through public offerings at New York and 
New Orleans. Ownership in the proper- 
ties is now widely distributed. The direc- 
tors of the Alabama and Vicksburg Rail- 
way Company are: F. H. Cabot, Jr.. New 
York; Larz A. Jones, president and gen- 
eral manager of the company; J. Blanc 
Monroe, general counsel; W. J. Kelleher, 
assistant to the president, and Larz E. 
Jones, New Orleans; R. E. Kennington and 
Judge R. H. Thompson, Jackson, Miss. 
The directors of the Vicksburg, Shreve- 
port & Pacific Railway Company are: J. B. 
Ardis, Shreveport; James P. Butler, Jr., 
W. J. Kelleher, Larz A. Jones, J. Blanc 
Monroe and William P. Richardson, New 
Orleans; T. W. McCoy, Vicksburg. 


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